This invention relates generally to sawmill equipment and more particularly to a scanner-computer operated apparatus for sawing logs.
When logs are sawn into random or desirable lengths in a sawmill, it is important that the sawing or bucking operation as it is commonly referred to be performed with speed and accuracy. The first requirement, speed, is determined in part by the manner in which the logs are fed to the saws and how quickly the relative positions of one or more saws and often irregularly-shaped logs can be adjusted. There are two well known methods of moving logs into a position to be cut and these are known as lineal flow and transverse flow. With lineal flow, each log is moved longitudinally into a position where it is cut transversely by a saw. This provides for selective bucking of the logs which is an advantage but a disadvantage of lineal flow is the necessity of high speed movement of the logs to achieve a reasonable output. With the transverse flow, each log is moved transversely up to a plurality of fixed, laterally spaced saws and is adjusted longitudinally with respect to the fixed saws. The disadvantage of this method is loss of selective bucking within preset saw limits, while an advantage is the high volume that can be processed within a given time.
The known prior art includes the U.S. patents listed below and, of these references, the Warren and Arnelo U.S. patents appear to be the most relevant.
______________________________________ 3,650,307 Johnson 3,459,246 Attoson 3,500,882 Languay 3,937,114 Joensson 3,960,041 Warren 3,554,249 Arnelo ______________________________________